Forest Rumble
F-15E Strike Eagle had seemingly given up on his task for finding a proper graveyard. He gazes down at the multi-colored bits of metal that make up the forest's canopy, along with Bludgeon's blossom garden. For a moment, he considers dropping a bomb or two on it, but it looks so pleasant! So he coasts onward, likely towards Magnaron. MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" streaks across a star-studded alien canvas. Radiated heat escapes in conical plumes from the jet engines, and to a distant observer, it would appear that Blitzwing's path across a night time sky rips these distant gas giants asunder, leaving a diamond dust cloud across the inky expanse in his wake. F-15E Strike Eagle might've appreciated the dazzling diamond dust display were he any other mech. But he's Air Raid, he don't care about that crap! Who's that, a Seeker? He banks to zoom closer. "Well if it ISN'T BLITZWING! Where's your pals eh? Allll alone?" MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" 's radar emits a single audible beep - a solid return from a similarly airborne, high-speed contact in the distance. The large Russian plane alters course to investigate the disturbance, and shortly thereafter, the Autobot's voice comes through the speakers of an otherwise empty cockpit. The Decepticon offers in response, delighted at his fortune, "Pals? Ha, 'pals', he says. Get real. You Auto-brats are the ones that are all buddy-buddy. Unless you've finally come to the realization that you're in the middle of a less-than-civil war?" F-15E Strike Eagle dips low enough to graze the fragile metallic leaves, and pitches skyward, straight for the big ole' foxbat. "Tch! I dunno' mech, ain't A-Train your best-friend-forever? That's what he told me. I know you wanna' flirt all night, but I got places ta' be!" With this, he fires a few warm-up shots of laser at Blitzwing's fuselage, still a decent distance away. Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle misses MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" with his Laser attack! MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" rolls lazily along it's Y axis. The distance between the combatants provides Blitzwing with the time necessary to equivocate the laser fire. Completing the maneuver, the MiG steadies up and banks sharply and likewise ascends, chasing after the F-15E. "The only place you'll be visiting anytime soon is the morgue, FireFRIGHT! Ha!" A payload cycles into position under Blitzwing's fuselage, and a second later a missile screams after Air Raid's vapor trail. Combat: MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" strikes F-15E Strike Eagle with his Incoming! (Laser) attack! "Fire...fright? I'M NOT FIREFLIGHT YOU DUMBAFT!" Raid is quick to snap, but not quick enough to evade the missile, which hurts pretty bad for a single shot. He reels from the damage, then banks sharply to try and aim a missile of his own. "Ya' wanna' play rough do ya'? I can't wait to see your face when I run you into the ground! Or what's left of it, heh heh." Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle strikes MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" with his Sparrow Missile attack! MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" laughs. "What? Wait, which one are you again? Quiverbolt? I can never keep you clowns straight." He doesn't get an immediate answer to his question - other than his right wing exploding in a brilliant blossom of twisted metal, sound, and fire as it crosses paths with the Autobot plane's return fire. The larger jet dips in altitude and begins to spiral away in concentric loops, thick black smoke following it's descent. Blitzwing adjusts aerilons, sharply cutting into the overall direction of his dive. Pulling even tighter, Blitzwing comes full around and enters kamikaze mode, putting himself on a collision course with the F-15. Combat: The next attack against you will automatically hit. Combat: MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" strikes F-15E Strike Eagle with his Ram attack! F-15E Strike Eagle inwardly twitches at the verbal jabbing, though it doesn't quite compare to being /rammed/ by the other jet. His fuselage crumples somewhat, as does his right wing, the warped armor lit ablaze by Blitzwing's flames as well as his own. "AHH!" is all he can respond with for the moment. The impact is enough to thrash the metallic trees below them. Raid can't recover in time to keep from falling, so he transforms to crash heavily into the canopy, snapping several of the strange structures in half. Air Raid folds and compacts into his robot mode. Combat: Air Raid sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Air Raid takes extra time to steady himself. Pass MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E" 's nose struggles to gain any forward momentum, and continues to plummet. Noting the Autobot's rather unceremonious 'landing', Blitzwing takes advantage of the momentary lapse in violence and brings himself back to a state of relative equilibrium. Panels and plates expand, retract, swivel, and reposition themselves and Blitzwing lurches in mid-air, flipping end over end to land with a resounding THUD! in his robot mode. Blitzwing transforms into his robot mode. Combat: Blitzwing takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Air Raid sprawls in his small crator as chipmunk-like mechanimals scatter. "Fragger can't make this easy..." he mutters, pulling himself upright. Blitzwing's transformed figure prompts him to rip up one of the broken trees to use as a javelin. He takes a running start and hurls the makeshift weapon at the 'con with a wild cackle. "Come on, I'm still standin'!" Combat: Air Raid sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Air Raid strikes Blitzwing with his TREE (Disruptor) attack! Blitzwing's bulky frame lurches a few degrees as the petrified stump connects with the backside of his shoulder, the impact echoing across the deserted, ancient forest with a satisfying CLANG! Blitzwing easily recovers, rolls his head once to the left *pop!* and then to the right *pop!* *pop!*, and then turns about to now face his opponent with both scimitar and rifle at the ready. "You won't be for long, Crydive." Blitzwing levels his rifle, a gyroscopic round automatically chambering. *BLAM!* Combat: Blitzwing misses Air Raid with his Gyro-Blaster Rifle attack! -1 Air Raid frowns at Blitzwing's quick recovery. This is one of Galvatron's elite warriors, and he's a lot bigger than wee Raid, but damned if any of that adds up in his war-gloried mind. Wing bent nigh in half and frame still /slightly/ on fire, he joins his fists and dashes forth to swing for Blitzwing's middle. "My name is AIR RAID!" Combat: Air Raid misses Blitzwing with his Smash attack! Blitzwing chuckles to himself, smiling a wolfish, wild smile - despite missing the shot. Seeing Air Raid speeding after him and screaming certainly pleases him. Psychological warfare is one of Blitzwing's favorite pasttimes. "What was that? You're a fair maid? Or did you say your lair fades? You Autobots are CRAZY." As the Autobot closes the distance, Blitzwing holsters his rifle for a moment and brandishes his scimitar, taking one decisive step forward and putting himself in an appropriate position to deal with Air Raid's tirade. Blitzwing doesn't dodge the haymaker as much as he completely stops it from happening with a swift parry of his blade, knocking the Aerialbot to the side and using his own momentum against him. Blitzwing, as though it were a rehearsed dance, raises and up pluges his blade downward, completely perpedicular to the Autobot's frame. Combat: Blitzwing strikes Air Raid with his Electro-Scimitar attack! Air Raid's temper flares, though he can't act on it. The impact of his fists against Blitzwing's armor is robbed of him, which only stokes him further, as he's instead pushed to the side, stumbling forward. Before he can catch himself, the blade of Blitzwing's scimitar pierces down through the fuselage on his back, and clear through his chest. "GAH!" It severs the wiring for his stowed artillery and breaks a main line, so it's a somewhat gruesome sight as energon gushes from the seams of his chest while he lingers there, suspended by the weapon. Despite the blinding pain, he still manages to swing his fist, if only to try and make the big mech buckle, aiming for the back of Blitzwing's knee. Combat: Air Raid strikes Blitzwing with his Punch attack! Blitzwing revels in the destruction he's wrought on the Autobot flier. Basking in the gruesome sight, Blitzwing is lost for a perhaps a moment too long, mistakenly believing the fight to be over. Air Raid springs to life, and connecting perfectly with the Decepticon's knee mechanisms. They inadvertantly seize up, and like a house of cards, Blitzwing crumbles under his substantial weight and crashes into the immemorial flora. Combat: Blitzwing takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Air Raid is pried free of the wicked blade, energon bubbling up over his lips as he leers over at Blitzwing. "Y'think that twig's gonna' bring me down!?" he exclaims, a bit manic. His torque rifle (with an image of Torque herself on it) is summoned from subspace, appearing in his hands as he hops over to /stand/ on Blitzwing. He fires a massive metal twisting force down on the 'con, and if it fails to hit him, it will tear into the forest floor, scraping things up in a spiral pattern. Combat: Air Raid misses Blitzwing with his Torque Rifle attack! Blitzwing's regains his composure fairly quickly - and without a second to spare. He evaluates the situation in a flash and takes equally speedy action, transforming in a blur to essentially negate Air Raid's attack. Rising up and unsettling the Autobot's footing, Blitzwing reconfigures himself into a fearsome Earthen tank, treads already rolling at full throttle - and potentially OVER the Autobot in the process. Blitzwing transforms into a Leopard 2A6M tank. Combat: Leopard 2A6M strikes Air Raid with his Tank Overrun attack! "DAMNIT STAY /STILL/-woah!" Raid staggers as Blitzwing quickly shifts into none other than a tank. A tank that's going to run him right over. And how it does! The treads catch his foot and smash him between Cybertron's crust and the weight of Blitzwing. He's left fairly mangled, sprawled on his front in a growing pool of energon. Now would be a decent time to run, but the humility of running is too much for Raid. Nope he'll just remain on the ground and try to fire off another shaky shot of rotational force. "Die!" Combat: Air Raid strikes Leopard 2A6M with his Ffff attack! Leopard 2A6M 's substantial armor plating in this mode do an effective job in absorbing the punch behind Air Raid's torque round. Specifically designed panels accept the damage and prevent it from reaching anything of true significance. Blitzwing continues to plow through the stone forest, no degree of landscape or terrain capable of slowing him in this powerful form. The tank's cannon turret swivels around with a groan, focusing in on the injured Autobot. Precision machinery begins to hum to life inside of the Decepticon, as a 125mm javelin is loaded into the smoothbore assembly. *CA-THUNK!* *Whrrrrrr* Combat: Leopard 2A6M takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Those sounds do not bode well. Raid slowly pulls himself to his feet, bloodied and beaten, and not terribly pleased that his shot did so very little. It's a fight he can't win, at least as he is, and he takes a cautious step back, then another. Running /sucks/. With a -bwip- of subspace pockets, he turns and forces his mangled frame back into a battered eagle form, scrambling to try and get above the canopy. Combat: Air Raid takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Leopard 2A6M 's subsystems notify him that the main cannon has been ready and is ready for pain deployment. The tank as a whole remains frozen in place, even as Air Raid puts distance between them. Blitzwing projects his voice through an external speaker, and his speech echoes in a slightly eerie fashion. "Any last words, Slingslob?" A few minor axis corrections to the main gun. "Didn't think so." *KRA-THOOM!* Cybertron comes alive. The end of Blitzwing's cannon erupts with the force of a volcano, bathing the scene with a sun flare, and causing a thunderous tremor to resonate for miles in all directions. Combat: Leopard 2A6M strikes Air Raid with his 125mm Cannon attack! Air Raid very nearly explodes from the cannonfire, every servo in his being rattled to the core. The trees around him are blown back, snapped off or simply caught ablaze. Lucky the forest isn't terribly conductive to fire! Raid howls in pain, tear up towards the night sky for solace, naught but a streaking ball of flames with warped, black wings. Neutrals camped out on the quartzite mountains spot it. "A shooting star, make a wish!" Combat: Air Raid begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Leopard 2A6M Leopard 2A6M 's servos struggle to compensate for the sheer brute force purveyed by his 125mm cannon. Reeling slightly in his own right, the Decepticon shifts forms again and watches the Autobot careen across the sky like a comet caught in Cybertron's gravitational field. He puts an open hand next to his mouth, booming out after his opponent. "I wish you fly into a flock of geese-o-tron 5000's, they get caught in your intakes, and you crash in the Rust Sea! And then Nautilator fishes you out and does naughty things to you with his tentacles! And next time, don't waste my time!" He picks up a rock and throws it after Air Raid, for show more than anything else. "They're always so inconsiderate."